The present invention relates to a cassette which is used for cleaning the head of a tape recorder, a cassette deck or the like.
There have conventionally been known three methods for the head cleaning of a tape cassette, a cassette deck or the like.
In accordance with the first method, an applicator is made to absorb a solvent such as alchohol or the like, or is manually used to wipe the head. In accordance with a second method, there is employed a cleaning tape which wipes the front surface of the head thereby cleaning the same. In accordance with the third method, as shown in FIG. 1, the middle portion of a swing arm 52 which is provided with a wiper portion 50 made of felt for head contact, as well as a curved arm portion 51 which is resilient at the forward half thereof, are pivotally mounted onto a cassette proper 1' by means of a shaft 53 as shown in FIG. 1. A drive pin 54 provided at the rear end of the swing arm portion is made engage a hub 55 with a cam which is provided at the take-up side of the cassette 1'. The wipe means 56 thus constituted is stored in the cassette 1'. The cassette is mounted in the tape recorder or the like, thereby inserting the take-up side reel shaft into the hub 55 having the cam. After that, if the hub 55 is rotated, the rear end portion of the wiper means 56, where the drive pin 54 is in engagement with the hub and cam, is moved as the hub and cam rotates, so that the forward half of the swing arm 52 is swung about the shaft 53.
As a consequence, since the wiper portion 50, which is mounted to the curved arm portion 51 of the swing arm 52 fronts on a window opening 1'A, the swing arm 52 is moved so that the front surface of the head is wiped so as to be cleaned by the wiper portion 50.
Since the head is manually cleaned using the applicator or the like in accordance with the above mentioned first method, it is troublesome. In addition, since the applicator is not uniformly in contact with the head, it is impossible to ensure complete cleaning.
On the other hand, in the second method, the tape is fed while in contact with the front surface of the head, so that the front surface of the head is ground by an abrasive surface formed on the tape. Therefore, a magnetic gap portion of the head is abraded by long term use, or the magnetic gap portion gets clogged with dregs of the tape.
In accordance with the third method, the cassette 1' is mounted in the tape recorder, and the tape is turned after having inserted the reel shaft into the hub 55, so that the swing arm 52 of the wiper means 56 is provided in a way such as to wipe the front surface of the head. Therefore, as long as the reel shaft is inserted in the cassette 1' and continues to rotate, the swing arm 52 is swung without restriction, so that the head is wiped and abraded. As a result, there was little reliability in the use of this article, and thus, the third method was improper for a user having little knowledge of head cleaning.
In addition, since the hub 55 with the cam at the take-up reel side is provided in the conventional article shown in FIG. 1, rotation is freely effected at the supply reel side without being controlled by the rotation of the motor at the take-up reel side. In other words, since back tension is usually applied at the support reel side in order to prevent the tape from flexing, so that there is applied a load of light rotative power in the reverse direction, it comes to pass that the hub 55 at the take-up side rotates unnecessarily because there is no load on the supply side reel hub in the conventional head cleaner shown in FIG. 1. Furthermore, since the wiper means 56 is associated with the take-up side hub 55 in the conventional head cleaner above, there is a drawback in that the wiper means 56 is not driven in case the rewind button is operated so as to switch the driven hub, in particular, in a single motor tape recorder.